Doctor brings Haiti experience to free lecture

Gretchen Berggren, an international health consultant in maternal and child health nutrition and one of the few doctors serving large populations in developing nations such as the Congo, Haiti and Ethiopia, will discuss what happens in Haiti after the devastation during a lecture next month on the University of Colorado Denver campus.

Berggren has spent much of her career in Haiti, first arriving there in 1967. Using a community outreach program, Berggren and her staff were able to reach and care for an estimated 200,000 people.

Her talk, "Haiti: Work After the Earthquake," will be at 7 p.m. April 8 in North Classroom 1130 on the Auraria campus, 1200 Larimer St., Denver. The event is open to the public.

Since the beginning of her career in medical missions, Berggren has fought to increase access to curative and preventative medical care for thousands of people all over the world.

She is a graduate of Nebraska State College, the University of Nebraska College of Medicine and Harvard School of Public Health. She held previous appointments as maternal and child health consultant for World Relief and Save the Children. She has been presented with numerous awards, including a National Council on International Health award, the Presidential Citation as "Health Hero for Children," the Donald McKay Medal in Tropical Science and the 2009 Award for Excellence in Global Health presented by the Center for Global Health, University of Colorado Denver. Berggren also served as an associate professor and lecturer for the department of international health at the Harvard School of Public Health.

For more information, contact Michelle Shiver, Program Manager, Center for Global Health at michelle.shiver@ucdenver.edu.